West Midlands Police ignored more than 170,000 crime calls to its 101 number because of a staffing crisis.

The staggering failings admitted by the force today included that members of the public had to wait an average of 48 seconds to have their call answered.

Just 48 per cent of non-emergency 101 calls were answered within 30 seconds from April this year. The national target is 90 per cent.

The bombshell report from Assistant Chief Constable Gareth Cann shows that 172,381 calls were abandoned after the 30 second threshold was reached, with some people reverting to 999 in a bid to speak to police.

West Midlands Police call centre

The picture for 999 calls saw 84 per cent answered within the 10 second target time, although more than 9,000 were also abandoned after the 10 second threshold.

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The issue was being discussed this morning at a meeting of the Strategic Police and Crime Board, where police chiefs will pledge to improve performance and claim the problems were part of a “historical picture".

Both the emergency (999) and non-emergency (101) departments are currently being merged as part of huge changes being introduced across the force, under the 2020 modernisation programme.

(Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)

Operators will soon be trained to handle both types of calls and bosses say there will be a recruitment drive to replace staff and increase numbers.

Despite the problems ACC Cann says the force has prioritised answering emergency 999 calls over 101 - even though the 999 target was also missed by six per cent.

In the report he adds: “Given the critical nature of emergency calls, the department has ensured that answering these calls is the priority and that staffing in this function does not fall below the required number.

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“Staffing challenges have been more predominant within the non-emergency function, with the department unable to provide the required number of staff to meet expected demand.

“This is in part a conscious choice to prioritise the emergency call handling function but also with the training burden for non-emergency call handling being higher than for emergency call handling it is more difficult to fill this role with staff from other functions.”

The Board will be told that performance will improve in the coming months, when both the emergency and non-emergency answering functions are merged.

(Image: West Midlands Police)

ACC Cann added: “Force contact is bringing the emergency and non-emergency functions together which will start to provide benefits over the coming months as all call handlers will be able to manage both kinds of calls increasing the flexibility and resilience of the workforce in these functions.”

He also explained why there had been problems and added: “Fluctuating demand brings with it challenges for the department in matching staffing resources to peak periods. This situation has been exacerbated this year by a higher than usual turnover in staff and increased and more sustained call demand over the summer.

“Over the last year, recruitment has not kept pace with staff leaving the department so while 50 staff were recruited, 73 left resulting in a net loss of 23 staff.

“The current recruitment plan is projected to deliver 37 new call handlers, fully trained operational and competent by April 2017.

“This plan has been enhanced by a more robust and coordinated strategy by the WMP human resources department to bring the workforce back up to strength by recruiting up to 65 new staff.”